House and Garden 
entrance were made nominally subordinate, 
it would still be the actual gate, used nine¬ 
teen times out of twenty by those going out 
or coming in. So they decided to work 
with the current and not against it, and the 
result has been not only greater practical con¬ 
venience but added piquancy and character 
in the layout. 
To plan a settlement on a mountain side, 
as in the case of Llewellyn Park, is virtually 
to submit, more or less gracefully, to the 
dictation of Nature, but the tolerably even 
surface of Rochelle Park invited any one of 
half a dozen methods of treatment and so the 
designers chose a scheme involving some 
elements of formality. From the main en¬ 
trance, one views the long straight line of the 
Boulevard, with its tree borders, broken only 
by the flat expanse of the Lawn and contin¬ 
uing to a green circle half a mile away, com¬ 
manding both the Boulevard and the Court. 
The latter forms the minor axis of the design, 
and is an oblong grass plot, sunk below the 
roadway level for part of its length, and 
planted with a double row of Lombardy pop¬ 
lars at its edges, which catch the eye as 
one passes by in the train, and hint at some 
definite and agreeable scheme of formal 
gardening. 
The interruption of the Boulevard by the 
Lawn compels a detour to reach the main 
entrance, but the great elliptical plot provides 
vistas, and gives flavor and distinction, be¬ 
sides being of use for outdoor gatherings and 
games. How else could the Lawn have been 
so centrally placed, and a green breathing 
spot so economically obtained ? Stand at its 
edge or saunter 
across it and 
you feel a cer¬ 
tain desirable 
spaciousness; 
you are aware 
of being in the 
midst of a large 
reservation and 
the nearness of 
an ordinary 
town is quite 
forgotten. The 
harmless little 
fountain and 
the marble fig¬ 
ures of the rounded triangle called the Plaza, 
with steps leading from the latter to the 
sunken end of the Lawn, further incite the 
visitor or dweller to remember that this 
is distinctly a park. The scattered trees on 
the Lawn and the sturdy arboreal growth 
along all the roadways give the impression 
of a country place long since past the stage 
of rawness. The feeling grows that Mr. 
Barrett and Mr. Crosby planned with a long 
look toward the future. 
The entrance is assertive without being 
pompous. Stone walls, with terminal posts 
but no gates, mark off the Park from the 
town. E. A. Sargent, an English architect, 
designed them and they play their role well. 
Through them passes the Boulevard, too 
feet wide between private property lines, sus¬ 
taining the dignified note set by the portals. 
The actual driveway is 54 feet wide, and on 
either side of it, an eight-foot bluestone side¬ 
walk is separated from the macadam by a 
fifteen-foot strip of grass, planted with trees. 
About the Lawn, corners are rounded away, 
to heighten the sense of amplitude and room¬ 
iness. 
Every road in the Park except those along 
the Court and the Serpentine, converges at 
this center. Economy of valuable building 
land was evidently an important factor. Thus 
Manhattan Avenue, a long straight line, gives 
access to the lower end of the Court and runs 
nearly parallel to the park’s southern bound¬ 
ary, but at such a distance from it as to allow 
the laying out below it of twenty-four well 
proportioned plots, none less than 75 feet 
wide and half of them over 200 feet deep. 
PLAN OF ROCHELLE PARK 
